Supporters Club

Giraffe · Nov 27, 2008

We often see representatavies of the Supporters Club presumably giving a view of things from a fans perspective but who do they represent.

My opinion is that it is a closed shop that largely includes the inner circle referred to in another thread.

In the old Goldstone days they had a regular slot in programme asking for members etc. I even seem to recall seeing the AGM minutes etc at some point.

Now, there seems no mention of it. Never in the prgramme, not on the official website, no website of its own, no forum to see the representatives of the supporters. We all know of Liz Costa/Sarah Watts etc and I am not having a pop at them but as a result of not advertising for members for at least 10 years the remaining members must by definition 1)older than the average support 2)reduced in number, assuming people leave 3)closer to the club, same people all that time bound to build up relationships with the board etc. 4)not a fair reflection of the supporters of the club.

I am just curious if for some reason a decision was taken to close off new membership, if anyone is still a member, what it does, anything. Anyone any idea?? Other than quotes from Liz etc over the years whenever anything needs reporting on I am not sure it has appeared in the public domain at all? Is it dead??

The Merry Prankster · Nov 27, 2008

Can't be a "closed shop" as anyone is free to join, just like every other supporters club in the country, i would have thought.

Couldn't Be Hyypia · Nov 27, 2008

Giraffe said:
We often see representatavies of the Supporters Club presumably giving a view of things from a fans perspective

Do we? Where and when - I don't see them around very much.

Giraffe · Nov 27, 2008

TRHK said:
Do we? Where and when - I don't see them around very much.

As in the odd Argus quote, supporters club president whoever whoever says "its a disgrace". Actually you're right we haven't even seen much of that recently??

Giraffe · Nov 27, 2008

The Merry Prankster said:
Can't be a "closed shop" as anyone is free to join, just like every other supporters club in the country, i would have thought.

How? Why? When? How much? Not exactly advertised is it. Anyone would think they don't want new members......

Slough Seagull · Nov 27, 2008

Brighton Club | Brighton and Hove Albion | Fans | Supporters Clubs | Supporters Clubs

Giraffe · Nov 27, 2008

Slough Seagull said:
Brighton Club | Brighton and Hove Albion | Fans | Supporters Clubs | Supporters Clubs

I stand corrected!!! Okay thanks for that. It takes a great man to admit he is wrong but I am on the website front.

That said I have been to virtually every home game in the last ten games and didn't know how to join so they are not exactly in your face are they!

Barry Izbak · Nov 27, 2008

Giraffe said:
I stand corrected!!! Okay thanks for that. It takes a great man to admit he is wrong but I am on the website front.

That said I have been to virtually every home game in the last ten games and didn't know how to join so they are not exactly in your face are they!

Fair play to you Mr Giraffe. It takes an even greater man to put his fiver where his mouth is :thumbsup:

The History Man · Nov 27, 2008

As chairman of the Supporters' Club 1998-2008, I thought I'd let you know that the Supporters' Club is not dead. It has not kicked the bucket. It has not shuffled off this mortal coil. It is not an ex-Supporters' Club.

Membership has averaged around 360 for eight years. We gain some new members and lose some existing members each year. It is open to all (except full-time Albion staff as we jealously guard our independence from the football club) and is not a closed shop.

The Supporters' Club is run democratically according to its constitution. It is governed day-to-day by a committee elected at the AGM. Several of the members of that committee have been on it for some years and are reasonably well known. In my opinion, that's largely because they are prepared to put in a great deal of hard work in the cause of the members and of the Albion, and because the members are happy for them to continue.

The media do tend to contact them simply because they are reprentatives of the largest organised body of Albion supporters, but they would not claim to represent anyone other than themselves or the members that elect them.

AGM minutes are published in the monthly newsletter to members along with reports of committee meetings.

Membership is £5 per season. In my opinion it suits those fans who use our coaches, who live remotely, and those who want to get involved helping the Albion in some practical way. I agree that the members are not representative of the Albion fanbase in general, and I don't think they ever will be. It's also a valid criticism that the age range is too high and we are trying to address that.

We represent those members. We communicate with them and keep them informed. We transport them to away games if they want (although our coaches are not restricted to members only). We give them opportunities to get involved. Is that enough for most fans to join? Probably not.

A few things we have done in recent years. We negotiated the Away Membership Scheme down from its original draft to the initial scheme that was launched some years back. (We even told the Albon it was still flawed - and you may remember that more general pressure resulted in it being changed a week or so later.) We negotiated the £5 voucher for the FA Cup game at Norwich in 2003 after they offered nothing initially. We have lobbied for some time for a supporters' social club at Falmer, something the Albion have agreed to. We provide 99% (rough estimate) of the manpower on post-match litter patrols at Withdean - yes, they still operate and volunteers are still wanted. We pay for replacement roofs for the disabled section in the south-east corner at Withdean. We liaise with police forces across the country to try to ensure that the matchday experience is good for supporters, and we promote good behaviour. And of course we provide coaches to all away matches at cost.

Yes, we have established good relationships with the management at the Albion. That's how you get things done in the real world. You try to win friends and influence people. You have a friendly chat in the background rather than ranting in public. It's like the council dealing with either Archer/Bellotti or Knight/Perry. Relationships are worked on, but it doesn't mean we're not critical when necessary - as in the case of the AMS mentioned above.

What we haven't tended to do is to "blow our own trumpet" about these and other things we have done and do. Probably my fault, but my priority has never been to try and increase the membership for the sake of it.

For the past 13 years though, the "raison d'etre" of the Supporters' Club has not been increasing numbers but in supporting campaigns to ensure that the Albion keeps going. We have backed every campaign over that period. We have, for instance, contributed over £9,500 in funding the Falmer For All campaign; those leaflets, letters, postcards, etc, have to be paid for. And then we have provided the organisation and manpower to hand them out at Withdean, collect them back in, and despatch them to where they have needed to go. Again, we have done this without making it apparent that the Supporters' Club is behind it.

Happily, that campaigning has been successful. Now that Falmer is on the horizon, I think it can act as a catalyst for an all-embracing organisation to bring together ALL supporters who want to help the football club. Whether the Supporters' Club in its present form is the right vehicle for that I don't know, because there has been a lot of antagonism towards it - unjustly, in my opinion - for many years.

However, I would love to tap the energy and enthusiasm from the Alive & Kicking campaign that raised over £350,000 a few years back. If we could raise £100,000 a year and invest that in the Albion by means of buying shares then that would, in my opinion, be beneficial all round.

But please do not underestimate what the Supporters' Club has done, and is continuing to do, for the Albion and its supporters since it was first formed in 1912.

Robot Chicken · Nov 27, 2008

The History Man said:
The media do tend to contact them simply because they are reprentatives of the largest organised body of Albion supporters, but they would not claim to represent anyone other than themselves or the members that elect them.

It could be argued that Bozza is representative of the largest body of Albion supporters, being the owner of NSC. Perhaps not the most "organised" body though, haha

dougdeep · Nov 27, 2008

Just walk into the shop and ask for a form, that's what I did.

clippedgull · Nov 27, 2008

Excellently put. (Mr History Man) :clap:

Lord Bracknell · Nov 27, 2008

Robot Chicken said:
It could be argued that Bozza is representative of the largest body of Albion supporters, being the owner of NSC. Perhaps not the most "organised" body though, haha

er...? No.

There are far more "Gold Members" than there are active NSC members. But Gold Members are just as disorganised.

Robot Chicken · Nov 27, 2008

Lord Bracknell said:
er...? No.

There are far more "Gold Members" than there are active NSC members. But Gold Members are just as disorganised.

NSC has 6,609 members, now obviously loads are one-off posters, spammers, people with two or more memberships etc etc but just imagine if you could harness the power of NSC.

I already have in mind who would be King and, obviously, who would be Queen.

Tom Hark Preston Park · Nov 27, 2008

The History Man said:
As chairman of the Supporters' Club 1998-2008, I thought I'd let you know that the Supporters' Club is not dead. It has not kicked the bucket. It has not shuffled off this mortal coil. It is not an ex-Supporters' Club.

Membership has averaged around 360 for eight years. We gain some new members and lose some existing members each year. It is open to all (except full-time Albion staff as we jealously guard our independence from the football club) and is not a closed shop.

The Supporters' Club is run democratically according to its constitution. It is governed day-to-day by a committee elected at the AGM. Several of the members of that committee have been on it for some years and are reasonably well known. In my opinion, that's largely because they are prepared to put in a great deal of hard work in the cause of the members and of the Albion, and because the members are happy for them to continue.

The media do tend to contact them simply because they are reprentatives of the largest organised body of Albion supporters, but they would not claim to represent anyone other than themselves or the members that elect them.

AGM minutes are published in the monthly newsletter to members along with reports of committee meetings.

Membership is £5 per season. In my opinion it suits those fans who use our coaches, who live remotely, and those who want to get involved helping the Albion in some practical way. I agree that the members are not representative of the Albion fanbase in general, and I don't think they ever will be. It's also a valid criticism that the age range is too high and we are trying to address that.

We represent those members. We communicate with them and keep them informed. We transport them to away games if they want (although our coaches are not restricted to members only). We give them opportunities to get involved. Is that enough for most fans to join? Probably not.

A few things we have done in recent years. We negotiated the Away Membership Scheme down from its original draft to the initial scheme that was launched some years back. (We even told the Albon it was still flawed - and you may remember that more general pressure resulted in it being changed a week or so later.) We negotiated the £5 voucher for the FA Cup game at Norwich in 2003 after they offered nothing initially. We have lobbied for some time for a supporters' social club at Falmer, something the Albion have agreed to. We provide 99% (rough estimate) of the manpower on post-match litter patrols at Withdean - yes, they still operate and volunteers are still wanted. We pay for replacement roofs for the disabled section in the south-east corner at Withdean. We liaise with police forces across the country to try to ensure that the matchday experience is good for supporters, and we promote good behaviour. And of course we provide coaches to all away matches at cost.

Yes, we have established good relationships with the management at the Albion. That's how you get things done in the real world. You try to win friends and influence people. You have a friendly chat in the background rather than ranting in public. It's like the council dealing with either Archer/Bellotti or Knight/Perry. Relationships are worked on, but it doesn't mean we're not critical when necessary - as in the case of the AMS mentioned above.

What we haven't tended to do is to "blow our own trumpet" about these and other things we have done and do. Probably my fault, but my priority has never been to try and increase the membership for the sake of it.

For the past 13 years though, the "raison d'etre" of the Supporters' Club has not been increasing numbers but in supporting campaigns to ensure that the Albion keeps going. We have backed every campaign over that period. We have, for instance, contributed over £9,500 in funding the Falmer For All campaign; those leaflets, letters, postcards, etc, have to be paid for. And then we have provided the organisation and manpower to hand them out at Withdean, collect them back in, and despatch them to where they have needed to go. Again, we have done this without making it apparent that the Supporters' Club is behind it.

Happily, that campaigning has been successful. Now that Falmer is on the horizon, I think it can act as a catalyst for an all-embracing organisation to bring together ALL supporters who want to help the football club. Whether the Supporters' Club in its present form is the right vehicle for that I don't know, because there has been a lot of antagonism towards it - unjustly, in my opinion - for many years.

However, I would love to tap the energy and enthusiasm from the Alive & Kicking campaign that raised over £350,000 a few years back. If we could raise £100,000 a year and invest that in the Albion by means of buying shares then that would, in my opinion, be beneficial all round.

But please do not underestimate what the Supporters' Club has done, and is continuing to do, for the Albion and its supporters since it was first formed in 1912.

Total respect for all of the above.

But why only 350 members for all that time? That is a very low number indeed.

Lord Bracknell · Nov 27, 2008

Robot Chicken said:
NSC has 6,609 members, now obviously loads are one-off posters, spammers, people with two or more memberships etc etc but just imagine if you could harness the power of NSC.

I already have in mind who would be King and, obviously, who would be Queen.

Don't believe everything that you read on the front page of NSC.

There are 1,959 registered NSC usernames who have logged on to the site since the beginning of this season.

As for "harnessing the support of NSC", I would simply remind people of National Falmer Day, back in 2004. That was a HUGE success for NSC.

It's National Falmer Day - Post Your Stories HERE - North Stand Chat

To say nothing of Fans United.

Bozza · Nov 27, 2008

Lord Bracknell said:
Don't believe everything that you read on the front page of NSC.

There are 1,959 registered NSC usernames who have logged on to the site since the beginning of this season.

Don't believe everything that NSC stats tell you.

I have never ceased to be amazed how many people scramble to join NSC whenever the board is not accessible to guests. Most won't know this, but it happens whenever NSC gets very, very busy and the hack I installed to control this ensures NSC stays up whereas it used to crash under the same loads. In short - there are a load of people that just read NSC without ever joining.

The analytics software I have installed on NSC, and not visible from the any of the moderator/admin panels shows NSC averages around 3500 unique users every single day.

Bozza · Nov 27, 2008

Oh, and I meant to say first - Tim's post above is one of the best I've ever seen on NSC.

Beach Hut · Nov 27, 2008

Lord Bracknell said:
Don't believe everything that you read on the front page of NSC.

There are 1,959 registered NSC usernames who have logged on to the site since the beginning of this season.

As for "harnessing the support of NSC", I would simply remind people of National Falmer Day, back in 2004. That was a HUGE success for NSC.

It's National Falmer Day - Post Your Stories HERE - North Stand Chat

To say nothing of Fans United.

Blimey LB happy days, National Falmer Day was very good work by everyone

Lord Bracknell · Nov 27, 2008

Bozza said:
Don't believe everything that NSC stats tell you.

I have never ceased to be amazed how many people scramble to join NSC whenever the board is not accessible to guests. Most won't know this, but it happens whenever NSC gets very, very busy and the hack I installed to control this ensures NSC stays up whereas it used to crash under the same loads. In short - there are a load of people that just read NSC without ever joining.

The analytics software I have installed on NSC, and not visible from the any of the moderator/admin panels shows NSC averages around 3500 unique users every single day.

But you have to admit, Bozza, that it's only a real insider like yourself who knows the TRUTH.

The rest of us just make things up.

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